Make you ever feel like you’re fighting extra hard to teach your kids gratitude? Entitlement is prevalent in our culture and teaching children to be grateful has almost become counter-cultural.

As adults, we’re told we deserve things. And while yes, we can enjoy the fruits of our labor and hard work, that is far different than thinking we are OWED something.

And on top of that our kids are given things everywhere we go. Balloons at the grocery store, suckers at the bank, stickers at the doctor’s office. None of these are bad things, but our children can quickly feel like they deserve these things.

I once heard Brene Brown say, “What separates privilege from entitlement is gratitude.”

So that’s my mission, to teach my kids gratitude.

Recently my oldest son turned 8 (what???) and he had a birthday party with friends. Last week we sat down to write Thank You notes for his gifts. This is just one of the ways were are working on gratitude.

And he not only said thank you for the present, he told each friend something he appreciated about them. This was so sweet to read. It was simple words like “because you’re always nice” or “you’re a cool kid” or “I like when we play together.”

What are some simple things we can do to cultivate gratitude in our homes? Here are some things we are practicing. And yes, it does take practice. Daily. Even as adults.

Good manners.

Saying please and thank you when given something. This seems so simple, and it is, but it requires constant prompting in the beginning.

Give to others.

We are teaching our children about money, including how to give, save and spend. If they are given or earn money, we have been teaching them how much to set aside and allowing them to pick where their giving money goes.

Help someone.

My father once said, “if you see someone needs help and you have the ability to help, you do it.” I’m trying to teach that to my children. It’s hard because I struggle with this sometimes.

Send a thank-you note.

I touched on this earlier so I won’t go into it again, but I did make a printable thank you note that you can download and use for your own children.

State out loud what you’re grateful for.

We do this in the morning with a simple “thank you for this day” prayer. Each night during prayers our kids will list out the things that they are thankful for.

Pay a compliment.

If you see something you admire in another person, kindness, a sense of humor, the wonderful ability to tell stories- tell them.

Stop complaining.

I have to constantly remind my children not to be complainers. (I have to constantly remind MYSELF not to be a complainer.) It’s hard to see gratitude when we’re complaining that we’re hot, tired or we think things are unfair. Life isn’t perfect and we shouldn’t wait for it to be to be thankful.

I am not perfect at these things. And neither are my kids, I mean, they’re kids. We are all a work in progress.

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